/ An inside look at the business of digital content

The programmatic ad market benefits from standardization and transparency

January 30, 2023 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

Two years ago, the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA) examined buy-side data to map the programmatic advertising supply chain from advertiser to publisher. Unfortunately, there were significant data quality and transparency issues, specifically the inability to identify 15% of ad spend to delivered impressions. Given these results and marketplace concerns, industry organizations created a task force and toolkit to help improve transparency in the programmatic process. Results from the second report, ISBA Programmatic supply chain transparency study 2022, show supply chain improvements.

The 2022 study examined industry progress using the toolkit developed to improve data access in the programmatic supply chain. The toolkit defines five important questions to lead the impression match rate audit process:

Does the Audit Permission Letter (APL) accelerate data access?
Does the Data Fields List (DFL) improve the data quality?
Does improved data quality lead to improved impression match rates?
Is the unknown delta reduced?
Are there clear, actionable next steps?

The research is based on 1.3 billion impressions from September 1, 2022, to October 31, 2022, with the complete analysis taking place over nine months. Participants included 11 advertisers, 10 publishers, seven agencies, and six DSPs and SSPs, each.

Findings

The research identified a total of 104 million impressions served from ad tech vendors to publishers. Of the 104 million impressions, they matched 61 million impressions (58%) from the buy-side (DSP) to the sell-side (SSP). The match rate is nearly five times greater than the 12% in 2020. The latest report also track 65% of advertiser spending reaches publishers compared to 51% in 2020.

The higher-quality log-level data and data fields allow for a deterministic rule-based approach to matching the data sets with predetermined algorithms and calculations. Also contributing to higher match rates were private marketplaces, with an above 70% match rate (approximately 20% of matchable impressions). Notably, the 2022 study finds a distinct difference in the delta between open marketplaces (3%) and private marketplaces (<1%), showcasing the benefit of advertising with select auditable private marketplaces. Like 2020, the 2022 study focused on premium advertisers, agencies, tech vendors, and publishers which do not necessarily represent the broader programmatic ecosystem.

Improvements

The toolkit was a prime contributor to data access improvements in 2022. The Audit Permission Letter (APL) allowed for more efficiency, cutting the study time from 18 months to 9 months. However, the full adoption of the APL letter varied among the participants.

Participants who provided log-level data for each impression showed significant improvement in data quality in the audit process. The Data Fields List (DFL) also improved the data quality. However, while ad tech suppliers offered approximately 80% of the data fields, there was a remaining 20% of data fields that needed to be shared. In addition, inconsistencies in some data formats, like names, currency, device type, etc., still prevail and need to be addressed.

Recommendations

Overall, the study recommends for advertisers, ad tech vendors and publishers to work with well-curated private marketplaces (PMPs), given their higher impression match rates.

Advertisers and agencies:

agree to separate display side platform seats for each advertiser,
appoint centralized contact for Audit Permission Letter approvals and extraction and reporting of buy-side log-level data, and
consider private supply chain audits chain every one to three years.

Ad tech vendors:

invest in the ability to filter, retain, and share log-level data, covering all of the Data Fields List,
agree on consistent taxonomies and naming conventions for ads.txt, and
drive adoption and use of ads.txt and sellers.json.

Publishers:

agree on consistent taxonomies and naming conventions for ads.txt, and
drive adoption and use of ads.txt and sellers.json,
consider working with fewer SSPs, and
consider private audits of them every 1 to 3 years.

The 2022 study demonstrates the improvement of data quality with the Toolkit usage. Developing data standards and protocols offers insight into supply path optimization. Further enhancements in data access and retention with the additional collaboration of data practices will make financial audits more common and successful.

Perspectives

DCN’s must reads: week of January 26, 2023

January 26, 2023 Michelle Manafy, Editorial Director – DCN

Here are some of the best media stories our team has read so far this week:

Semafor | The Billionaire Era in News is Fizzling (6 min read)
Axios | Media layoffs loom large over 2023 (2 min read)
NiemanLab | Twitter will soon let news outlets lay visual claim to their staffers’ accounts. Should they? (3 min read)
The New York Times | Supreme Court Puts Off Considering State Laws Curbing Internet Platforms (7 min read)
MediaPost | Magna Trial Finds Consumers Hold Brands Responsible When Ads Don’t Align With Content (3 min read)
PressGazette | MPs call for public interest local news fund and accuse major publishers of ‘compromising quality’ (7 min read)
Horowitz | As Netflix and Others Crack Down on Password Sharing, New Horowitz Study Provides a Hint at How Consumers Will React (3 min read)
Variety | DOJ and Eight States Sue Google, Alleging It Holds a ‘Monopolistic Grip’ on Digital Ad Market (4 min read)
Financial Times | Can Big Tech make livestreams safe? (7 min read)

Innovation | Marketing | Perspectives

Brand content will explode with AI. Are publishers ready to capitalize?

January 25, 2023 Jason Kalin, Chief Business Officer – Nativo

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to evolve, we see more and more examples of AI-generated content in our daily lives. It is only a matter of time before brands start to adopt these tools to scale their content creation and power their content marketing strategies. This trend will continue to accelerate as AI gets better at producing quality content.

For publishers, this presents a huge opportunity. Brands will need help distributing the influx of new content, and publishers are in a prime position to provide that assistance. But are we ready? Do we have the infrastructure in place to handle the increased demand?

Only time will tell. But one thing is for sure: the world of brand content is about to get a whole lot bigger, and publishers need to prepare by focusing on strategies to scale their sponsored content programs.

Content is about to get a whole lot bigger, thanks to AI creation

Companies will no longer be limited to having just a few people write their content. Instead, with automated content creation, brands can scale their content quickly and easily – and leverage their content resources to refine the messaging. This means less time spent creating individual pieces of quality content, allowing for more ideas and creativity to be explored on a grander scale. Companies may find themselves communicating with consumers in ways they never thought possible before.

This dynamic change in how brands approach content creation will undoubtedly open up new opportunities and heighten engagement between brands and customers. The content marketing problem will shift focus from resources required to generate impactful content to finding distribution partners that can prove a shift in brand consideration. We expect big changes on the horizon as AI-written content takes on an increasing presence in the market.

Brands will need help distributing all this new content to drive consumer consideration

With the ever-increasing influx of content, brands are truly facing a looming challenge. How can they keep up with the speed and quantity of new content while making sure it has an impact and drives consumer consideration? How will they know which content connects most with consumers?

The answer lies in strategic partnerships with publishers. For brands to be successful, they must find reliable partnerships that allow them to reach their target audiences quickly and efficiently. Brands need experts and strategists who understand how to reach their customers and how to leverage optimization technologies to ensure the right brand content is served to ensure that readers are guided through the buyer’s journey. Reporting will shift from traditional advertising and attribution metrics to content and consideration insights such as lift studies, engagement, and audience insights.

Publishers are uniquely positioned to capitalize on this trend as they have a captive audience

This shift to AI-written content presents an opportunity for publishers to act as mediators between the content and its audience. Publishers have a captive audience and the expertise and experience necessary to ensure that all content reaches the right people in the most efficient manner possible. They can help brands successfully scale their content distribution quickly, efficiently, and accurately so that their message gets out loud and clear. Moreover, leveraging first-party data about their audience enables publishers to provide critical insights into how content is being consumed, as well as its impact on moving readers through their buyers’ journey.

But they’ll need to find innovative ways to scale their operations

We can expect content to explode around us, and for publishers to capitalize on this trend, they need to find effective ways to run their ad operations and make their sponsored content programs scaleable. That means if a publisher relies on manual processes, custom codes, and complex CMSes to run these premium programs they won’t be able to keep up with the sheer volume of sponsored content campaigns thrown at them. To meet the demands of our new digital landscape, organizations must figure out how best to automate their processes to scale sponsored content for brands.

How can publishers prepare for this explosion of content?

To meet the needs of brands adopting AI technology to scale the production of their content, publishers should focus on streamlining in a few key areas:

Campaign setup

Implement their own AI Content tools to suggest variations on existing content that can continually feed into optimization and reporting providing invaluable insight into content performance.

Also, with many publishers running sponsored content through their website CMS, we have found that programs run in this manner cannot meet high demands when sponsored content is sold at scale.

Campaign optimization

Machine learning optimization technology: AI will help draft the content, and publishers can provide content variation recommendations. When you feed this data into an optimization engine, campaign performance will inevitably see a lift and deliver valuable metrics into the type of content that resonates with a brand’s audience.

Opportunity awaits

Taking these steps now can give publishers a major edge in the rapidly changing landscape of brand content distribution. As AI-generated content becomes more prevalent, publishers can capitalize on this trend by finding innovative ways to scale their operations and become strategic mediators between brands and audiences.

Disclaimer: This article was written in part by AI.

Advertising | Perspectives | Supporter Spotlight

6 unexpected advertising predictions for 2023 and beyond

January 23, 2023 Todd Krizelman, CEO – MediaRadar

Recent history has been filled with challenges within our marketplace and we can expect 2023 to bring its own set of hurdles. At MediaRadar, we are constantly monitoring the marketplace to provide key insights and advice to our clients to help them navigate this ever-changing media landscape. We see numerous new advertising opportunities emerging within the market. However, it is critical for media companies to be ready to capitalize on them at the right time.

Here are six of our predictions for 2023:

1. Rising interest rates will cause accelerated asset sales

Normally in a recession, we can expect to see consolidation of media companies, typically weaker firms looking for scale by pairing. And we will see this. But with rising interest rates and the cost of borrowing up significantly, some well-known companies are going to be pressured to spin-off assets to raise cash and pay down their debt. This may create unexpected industry fragmentation and what may seem like new competition in the marketplace since currently many buys are bundled.

Disney may sell Hulu, or possibly ESPN. Just this week there are rumors Disney might dispatch ABC. Discovery is rumored to be renaming HBO MAX to only MAX. This may signal a desire to spin-off all or some of HBO.
The Dolan family might sell AMC. The economics for small channels has changed. The family paid debt down in the past, when they sold Cablevision (now Altice).
Over the last few years, we have seen SPACs created to acquire well-known media companies like Vice or Buzzfeed. However, some of these investments have registered lower-than-expected valuations and so investors are looking to get out.

2. Retail Media hype is cooling, but it’s also maturing

Last year the IAB Leadership Summit included a presentation with an executive from The GAP. This presentation outlined their plans for a bright ad supported business. The idea was right, but that business is already shut down. We’ve observed dozens of retailers who’ve made big announcements, but have not been able to scale their commerce media businesses.

However, retail advertising isn’t on the decline for everyone. Some retailers continue to make major investments, which are growing. Supermarkets perhaps have the most to gain. They have many ingredients for a successful business model – a captive audience, a strong presence in the local community, their consumers make frequent visits to their websites, and their core business performs at a much higher margin.

Grocery Companies have much to gain by adding a high-margin ad-supported retail advertising to their business model. This is why companies ranging from Walmart to Kroger’s are seeing success through retail media. Traditional media companies can capitalize on the return of ad dollars from failed retail media excursions. However, it is important to note that in certain areas, like CPG and grocery, that retail media is easily here to stay.

3. The Metaverse is not dead

The sense of schadenfreude for Meta (formerly just Facebook) is palpable, but this does not make the idea wrong. I read Neil Stephenson’s revolutionary thriller Snowcrash in university (the book was published 30 years ago), which foretells the metaverse, and more recently Ready Player One. I’m a believer. When the technology is in place, and affordable, it will be the next big thing. There will be an enormous ad business when the metaverse is realized. While I don’t think this will come to complete fruition in 2023, I do think media companies should be keeping an eye on this technology. It will open numerous advertising opportunities as it matures. We can’t let it sneak up on us.

4. ChatGPT will change the business of selling ads

At MediaRadar we observe more than 4.8m brands advertising in the United States. But to prepare thoughtful outreach for so many brands is far too time consuming for any individual ad sales team – at almost any ad-supported media company today. Sales teams don’t have the resources to canvas more than a small segment of the total market. However, ChatGPT will allow mass customization of outreach. We feel this will improve (that is, dramatically multiply) the number of advertisers a sales team could contact. It will collapse the time required by ad sellers to do their prep for marketers and agencies. You can expect more on this topic coming soon from our innovation lab.

5. Government spending is good for advertising

The war in Ukraine is driving advertising spend in key areas like, energy, agriculture, and defense. These will continue to flourish in 2023.

The U.S. government passed two key bills that will significantly impact the media industry. Both are going to drive unprecedented ad spending in the industries and local communities supporting these initiatives. The CHIPS and Science Act is a $250 billion bill that is dedicated to ensuring we no longer face computer chip shortages again. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. There will be $1 trillion dollars invested to update roads, bridges and tunnels across the U.S. These updates will create employment, travel and business opportunities for Americans – all which will require advertising to spread the word.

6. Sponsorship and exhibitor revenue from live events will be big, despite a looming recession

Our early analysis in Q1 suggests an especially robust market for live events. Pricing of sponsorship is up – often 20-30% above YR 2019 levels. Smart media companies will be creating and selling unique experiences, like NBCU’s BravoCon. Brands are eager to interact with customers in-person and these fun events will bring new advertising opportunities for media companies.

In 2023, we will face numerous challenges. However, there will also be meaningful opportunities for media companies to do well through the recession. When the competition hesitates, there’s room for some to move ahead even faster,

Perspectives

DCN’s must reads: week of January 19, 2023

January 19, 2023 Michelle Manafy, Editorial Director – DCN

Here are some of the best media stories our team has read so far this week:

Morning Consult | Podcasters First Wanted Your Ears. Now They Want Your Eyes Too (10 min read)
The Verge | Getty Imag e s is suing the creators of AI art tool Stable Diffusion for scraping its content (5 min read)
PressGazette | Trust in media up in the UK but remains among lowest in the world, Edelman survey finds (4 min read)
Futurism | CNET’s Article-Writing AI Is Already Publishing Very Dumb Errors (9 min read)
Financial Times | How Royal Mail’s hacker became the world’s most prolific ransomware group (5 min read)
Reuters Institute | Blind news audiences are being left behind in the data visualisation revolution: here’s how we fix that (7 min read)
Politico | DOJ antitrust chief cleared to oversee Google probes (2 min read)
The New York Times | Maria Ressa, Philippine Journalist and Nobel Laureate, Is Acquitted of Tax Evasion (4 min read)

DCN’s must reads: week of January 12, 2023

Weather Channel and Consumer Reports reveal the power of the subscription bundle

January 19, 2023 Charlotte Ricca – Independent Media Reporter

Subscription fatigue is a major concern for media brands, as top performers consolidate their market position, while new challengers vie for audience attention. Add to that the current economic downturn, and media businesses are rightly concerned about churn rate and revenue. According to recent research, two out of every three people surveyed have canceled at least one service in the last year.

To combat subscription fatigue, media brands need to focus on providing clear value propositions and high quality content, as well as giving consumers more flexibility and control over their subscriptions.

“We have identified two pain points for consumers,” says Sheri Bachstein, CEO of The Weather Company and GM of IBM Watson Advertising. “The first is managing tons of subscriptions in multiple places, and the second is the cost of those multiple subscriptions.”

Innovative bundling solution

One solution is subscription bundling, which can help lower both pricing to the consumer and investment from the brand. Bundling is most viable and financially rewarding when a brand is part of a larger media portfolio, such as Disney or Apple Services. However, not all businesses have such clout.

The Weather Company has come up with an innovative solution by developing a platform that enables bundling across media portfolios. “We are striving to disrupt the subscription economy by going across media companies that aren’t traditionally connected,” says Bachstein.

These bundled subscriptions are another way for the Weather Channel to provide additional value, by aligning with brands that help people make more informed decisions in their daily planning. One surprising collaboration is with ratings organization Consumer Reports.

“The Weather Channel helps consumers make daily decisions about their day, and Consumer Reports does the same thing, by offering valuable information and services. So it was a very natural fit,” explains Bachstein. “I expect we will see more collaborations like this in the future, but it is certainly one of the first.”

This latest bundle helps consumers access the latest weather along with news, ratings or shopping information in one location. Other partnerships include USA Today, MightyNest Shop and TripAdvisor Plus.

A compelling package

“It’s unusual to have different companies together, offering discounts on a bundle, but our partners are carefully chosen,” states Jason Fox, VP Chief Digital Officer at Consumer Reports. “Both the Weather Channel and Consumer Reports are highly trusted, non-partisan organizations, so we compliment each other well. You could call us ‘post partisan’ as we represent the larger demographic of society and we are proud of that.”

As a non-profit organization, subscriptions make up the bulk of Consumer Reports’ revenue. Therefore, Fox says it’s critical to bring their product to a new audience, while creating a more compelling package for their current customers in order to reduce churn,

“The average U.S. consumer is willing to take out between five and eight subscription services,” Fox explains. “The likes of Netflix, Disney Plus and larger media companies, such as The Wall Street Journal and New York Times take the bulk of this, so we are fighting for remaining slots.”

In addition to driving subscriptions numbers, Fox says the bundle with the Weather Channel is part of their wider growth strategy. “It’s about brand awareness and getting our name out there as a leader in the space,” he says. “While this is an ancillary benefit, and not the main reason for this partnership, it’s an important part of our growth strategy.”

Bachstein agrees that partnering with businesses who share the same mission and values helps strengthen their brands overall, while leveraging their audiences. “I honestly can’t think of a reason to not bundle,” Bachstein states. “You extend your reach, extend the brand and extend your direct to consumer relationship. And if the technology is already built for you, as it is with the Weather Channel, then it’s a win win.”

Subscription innovation

So, what should media executives be thinking about when evaluating the opportunity to bundle?

“It’s important that both brands complement and trust each other,” says Bachstein. “You don’t want to share a competitive space, you should be adjacent verticals, with shared values and orientations. That’s the sweet spot. To use cable channels as an analogy, you want to have a portfolio approach that offers a value proposition to your consumers.”

Value is key in the current climate. Statista predicts that by 2025 there will be 1.5 trillion subscriptions in the US alone, with the average person spending $1k a year on subscription services. However, consumers increasingly want more value, more advanced features and a more premium experience.

“At a high level it’s really important for a company to think about subscription innovation,” says Fox. “It’s one thing is to set up a paywall, but anyone can do that. It’s about what makes you distinct from others. I really believe that in the world of commoditised content if you are not offering something special it will be a hard sell to create a meaningful subscriptions business. This idea of coming together and offering something greater than we can do individually, is really powerful.”

Perspectives | Revenue | Supporter Spotlight

The mobile-first reality for publishers

January 18, 2023 Tobias Silber, CBO – GeoEdge

As publishers strive to reach revenue targets, the open programmatic market has cast a shadow over publishers’ ability to nurture their audiences. With the continued rise of mobile-first and in-app advertising, revenue growth in 2023 requires that media companies take a new approach that views advertising as a means to enhance consumer experience, rather than distract – or detract – from it.

Sticky audiences

In an age where audiences are inundated with content, publishers and app developers struggle to create “stickiness”. Here, stickiness refers to when users choose to stay with your product in a competitive environment because of the value it offers.

Mobile app stickiness is a metric that measures user engagement with an app. “Stickier” users mean lower churn rates, greater opportunities for upselling and cross-selling, higher customer lifetime value, and more customer referrals. Your audience will stick with you as long as there’s no compelling reason for them to stray. Irrelevant, offensive, or off-brand ad experiences are all reasons that users lose interest.

The key is demand optimization. It ensures brand suitability, ad relevance, and builds effective feedback loops that put audiences’ needs first.

Getting to the heart of churn

The lines that define a safe and engaging ad experience have never been clearer. One poor ad experience is all it takes to result in quick app abandonment. However, publishers rarely hear from 96% of their users. For every complaint logged, there are countless users who quietly slip away to explore competitors’ offerings.

Malicious ads, unwanted ad content, and disruptive formats cause a drop in engagement and a disconnect with brand identity. These issues manifest differently from app to app, even the offerings of a single publisher.

Most app publishers (93%) report that bad ads lead to negative reviews of their apps in the app store, and 71% of publishers say low-quality ads have driven users to uninstall their apps altogether. The impact is especially felt by gaming app publishers, with 57% sharing that bad ads have caused players to stop playing for good.

The need for flexible controls

The question remains: What can publishers serve to ensure long-term audience engagement?

Engaging, brand-suitable ads look different from app to app. Sites and apps that cater to teens have vastly different brand suitability standards than those for adults. Even among adult audiences, ad content standards vary greatly. What’s acceptable on a dating app may be damaging on a finance or gaming app.

When it comes to ad quality, it is crucial to have the autonomy to craft and fine-tune one’s guidelines. The ability to exclude certain content is a must-have for any publisher who wishes to maintain control over their ad experience.

Not only are many ad experiences offensive and disruptive, they are increasingly less relevant, as they are based on assumptions about audience preferences. Publishers must implement a sustainable feedback loop with audiences to efficiently tailor ad policies to user feedback. Publishers can turn to AI powered technologies to keep up with user preferences and constantly shifting expectations for in-app experiences.

Preserving publishers’ power position

Silent churn echoes louder than a scream. After enduring too many poor ad experiences, users simply opt for an alternative app. Publishers require visibility into the ads that appear in their apps, along with controls to ensure ads are relevant and engaging.Ultimately, the stickiness of your app is a powerful engagement metric that indicates long-term mobile app health. Appropriate, engaging ad experiences are the key to attracting stickier users who are more likely to become brand loyal. The result is a sustainable monetization strategy that will empower and benefit publishers and their audiences alike.

Perspectives | Supporter Spotlight

Five media trends we expect to see in 2023

January 17, 2023 Navid Nassiri, Head of Marketing – Switchboard Software

Last year proved to be another turbulent one. With continued economic turmoil, publishers are beginning 2023 with a great deal of uncertainty about what the year will bring. And, given the slow but inevitable depreciation of third-party cookies, many publishers are seeking out alternative ways to reach their audiences with increasing urgency.

It’s not all doom and gloom though. Industry innovations promise to provide publishers with the data – and critical insight – they need to continue demonstrating value to brand advertisers seeking to leverage their platforms.

Let’s take a closer look at the publisher trends we expect to take hold in 2023.

1. Widespread adoption of attention metrics

Despite a growing mindset shift towards attention metrics in 2022, viewable impressions are still the primary metric used by publishers to analyze ad performance. However, we are likely to see the balance tip in 2023.

Attention metrics give publishers deeper insight into ad performance – moving beyond how long an ad is visible, to a space where publishers can accurately measure the level of attention an ad receives.

Research into the attention economy shows attention metrics are 200% more effective at predicting the performance outcomes of ads. This gives publishers a much clearer understanding of how users interact with their content, which is of course an invaluable part of the buy-in process with advertisers.

2. A growing focus on first-party data

Ever since Google’s first announcement to end support for third-party cookies in Chrome, publishers have started to seek alternative targeting solutions. Indeed, Google’s own deadline extension was driven in part by the need to further test their Privacy Sandbox initiative, which was proposed as a less intrusive solution for delivering targeted advertising.

Publishers are already busy future-proofing their marketing plans with the development of first-party data strategies, and we expect to see a growing focus in this area in 2023.

3. The rise of data clean rooms

Clearly, first-party data provides the basis for a solid targeting solution. However, many publishers are beginning to realize their data can be further enriched with second-party data.

By entering into second-party data partnerships, publishers can share aggregated (and therefore anonymous) data for mutual benefit. Not only does this give them a clearer picture of how readers engage with their content, but in turn, demonstrates value to prospective brand advertisers.

Of course, these partnerships ideally take place in data clean rooms, which allow multiple parties to match user-level data without actually sharing personally identifiable information (PII). This is incredibly powerful for tracking ad performance and cross-platform user journeys without the need for third-party cookies.

In the past couple of years, clean rooms have gained a great deal of traction. This has been driven primarily by the concept of walled gardens, where media giants such as Google, Amazon, and Meta provide access to event-level data held within their platform, to enrich their own first-party data.

More recently, we’ve seen a rise in publishers entering into private, more mutually beneficial partnerships using independent clean rooms. And in 2023, we expect this trend to continue.

4. A shift towards contextual targeting

Over the years, behavioral targeting has been the primary mechanism for online engagement. It has allowed marketers to deliver greater ad relevance, informed by a user’s browsing habits, and powered by third-party cookies.

Of course, openly following a user around the web is no longer acceptable to consumers, nor will it be possible once third-party cookies disappear completely. As a result, we’ve seen a marked shift away from this method. Enter the improved ad relevance that contextual targeting brings.

By serving ads that are highly relevant to the context in which they’re placed, publishers can create a user experience that better resonates with their readers. This approach cuts through the noise of up to 10,000 daily ads to increase brand recall by 70%.

Recently, we’ve seen more and more publishers experiment with contextual targeting as they get to grips with cookieless approaches. But in the year ahead, we expect to see them implement far-reaching contextual campaigns with growing confidence.

5. The jury’s out on NFTs in publishing for 2023

Originally viewed as the next fad in the cryptocurrency space, NFTs struck a chord with publishers in 2022. They created opportunities to connect with new audiences, offer unique experiences to readers, and build added value into content subscription models.

At DC Comics, we saw the launch of the NFT Universe as a way to enhance readers’ comic book collections and unlock exclusive fan experiences. Meanwhile, TIME is working on a community-building initiative with its TIMEPieces project. And education publisher Pearson plans to turn its textbooks into NFTs to create a new revenue stream from secondhand sales of its titles.

However, after recent headline losses, publishers are likely to proceed with caution in 2023. It is important that they take the time to learn from the success and failures of previous investments before they take the plunge.

As we embark on yet another uncertain year, publishers will be seeking out and testing a range of new innovations. Only by working out what performs best with their readership, and what doesn’t, can they start to take engagement to the next level.

About the author

Navid Nassiri joined Switchboard as Head of Marketing in 2021. Switchboard’s powerful data engineering automation platform aggregates disparate data at scale, reliably and in real-time, to make better business decisions. In his role at Switchboard, Navid is focused on driving growth and brand awareness through innovative marketing strategies. Navid is a seasoned entrepreneur and executive, including leadership roles at PwC and NBCUniversal.

Perspectives

DCN’s must reads: week of January 12, 2023

January 12, 2023 Michelle Manafy, Editorial Director – DCN

Here are some of the best media stories our team has read so far this week:

Wall Street Journal | Republicans and Democrats, Unite Against Big Tech Abuses (4 min read)
The Hollywood Reporter | Entertainment Giants Teaming Up on Advertising Currency Initiative, Announce Plan to Unify Streaming Viewership Data (4 min read)
Financial Times | US regulatory action on the tech sector may come too late — or not at all (4 min read)
Wall Street Journal | China, a Pioneer in Regulating Algorithms, Turns Its Focus to Deepfakes (3 min read)
The New York Times | Streaming Changed TV. Is TV Changing Streaming Back? (8 min read)
Poynter | Amid soaring inflation and mass layoffs, news leaders head into 2023 with diminished confidence (4 min read)
Digiday | Meta’s been blasted by the EU privacy watchdog for breaching GDPR — now what? (4 min read)
Medium | Just How Social Do We Want Our Media, Really? (8 min read)

DCN’s must reads: week of January 5, 2023

Perspectives | Revenue | Supporter Spotlight

What publishers should know about in-app advertising in 2023

January 11, 2023 Kean Graham, CEO and Founder – MonetizeMore

According to Statista, around 3.4 million apps are available on Google Play Store. Additionally, the Apple Store has about 2.2 million apps.

The high number of mobile apps signifies a serious revenue-driving opportunity for media companies. App Annie’s State of Mobile Report 2022 shows that mobile ad spending hit a colossal $295 billion in 2021 (23% growth from the previous year).

Whether you are considering moving into mobile, or simply want to up your game, here are answers to the critical questions publishers will have as they consider in-app ad monetization.

Which ad formats work the best for in-app monetization?

Ad technology has come a long way since its inception, and multiple ad formats are at publishers’ disposal. Choosing a suitable ad format can be difficult – but it’s essential.

Many app developers stick to banner ads because they are the most widely deployed ad format. But to maximize revenue, it is critical to keep up with the times. Nowadays, there are a variety of engaging ad formats that retain users and keep their app experience intact.

We recommend that publishers explore rich media ads, interstitial ads, native ads, and rewarded ads. Experimentation is key, and the best way to learn what works best for your app’s inventory is through a split test. Here are some ad sizes that have historically performed well for our app publishers:

Banner Phone (320×50)
Medium Rectangle (300×250)
Fullscreen Interstitial Portrait (320×480)
Fullscreen Interstitial Landscape (480×320)

Is gamification of ads an ideal solution?

Gamification allows users to interact with ads in fun and engaging ways. By turning ads into mini-games, audiences are more likely to enjoy interacting with them, and even be more likely to remember the advertised products or services.

This technique is similar to rewarded ads, except that users actively play a game instead of simply watching an ad. This helps keep their attention and provides a sense of satisfaction or accomplishment once the game is completed.

Overall, the gamification of ads is a solution that could help address user fatigue with more traditional advertising methods.

Instream vs. outstream video ads: what works?

In-stream ads are played within the same video player that a user is viewing video content. Outstream ads, on the other hand, are served on a display ad unit and do not require a video player.

So, which one is right for you? It depends on your goals, budget, and available video content inventory. If you want to drive more revenue with high eCPMs and improved click-through rates, then in-stream video ads may be a good option. Outstream ads may be a better choice if you want guaranteed viewability and enhanced user engagement for the app users.

How to pick the right ad format type for your app?

Not all apps are equal, so they all need a different ad format depending on the app’s design and niche. For example, native ads fit best for an app like Instagram, where users can slide past an ad in their feed without disrupting their user experience. At the same time, rewarded ads work best for gaming apps because they incentivize users to stick around for an ad or two to get a reward that will enhance their game experience.

Figuring out what kind of ad formats give you the highest conversion rate can take time. Obviously, we believe that partnering with an ad monetization platform will help enormously. (For example, this can help you easily A/B test your app inventory to see which ad format works best.)

However, if you’re looking to optimize ad revenue in-house, here’s a table we created that’s based on rigorous testing of billions of ad impressions across hundreds of apps. It’ll give you a headstart.

Niche	Best ad format
Gaming	Rewarded
E-commerce	Native
Social media	Native
Fitness	Interstitial
Travel (bookings, information)	Sticky
On-demand service apps	Native/Interstitial
Video streaming	Instream
News/Blogging	Outstream + Sticky

Final thoughts

In-app advertising is one of the most effective ways to reach mobile audiences. Given that people spend more time on mobile apps than on the web, in-app advertising offers publishers an excellent opportunity to improve ad engagement and performance. In-app ads will continue to grow in popularity in 2023, but they are only effective if they don’t disrupt the user experience too much. Thus, publishers must do their research and due diligence to create a scalable strategy. Above all, prioritize the user experience and find a balance between revenue and returning users.

About the author

Kean Graham is the CEO and Founder of MonetizeMore, a leading ad monetization partner for web publishers and app developers. Under his leadership and guidance, the company has scaled to 15B+ monthly impressions for over 1000+ publishers worldwide.

Industry-Research | Video

Using content analyses to guide streaming business strategy

January 10, 2023 Rande Price, Research VP – DCN

There are over 300 streaming video services in the U.S. – and that number doesn’t include FAST channels. Consumers have a plethora of OTT services and access points across connected devices. So, how do media companies attract and retain viewers in such a large and fragmented marketplace? Parks Associates partnered with SymphonyAI Media to identify core analytics to help guide market strategies in the OTT ecosystem. Their new report, Optimizing Video: Enhancing Content Performance for OTT Success, looks at data solutions to best optimize content investment and performance.

Marketplace snapshot

According to Parks Associates, 87% of U.S. internet households now subscribe to one or more streaming video service, and 20% subscribe to eight or more OTT services. Consumers are adding new hybrid-model and FAST channels to their viewership mix. Netflix and Disney+ are two examples of media businesses launching ad-supported business models to attract new viewers to monetize content.

New niche streaming services are also popular among select audience segments. While appealing to a smaller audience, they offer unique and often obscure content. Sixty-one percent of consumers added other subscriptions in addition to the big three – Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu. Interestingly, very few consumers have an exclusive single-service subscription.

Content continues to be a key driver of subscriptions, with 48% of consumers referencing content availability as the primary reason for subscribing to an additional service. However, while churn appeared to stabilize last year, nearly half of streaming subscribers leave one service for another multiple times within a year.

Content performance

Media companies continually invest in content to attract, engage, and retain viewers. Content analyses offer a direct link to profitability. They are essential to understand viewership and forecast the revenue generated by a specific property, series, or partnership. They also help assess workflow efficiencies and revenue opportunities across SVOD, AVOD, and FAST.

Internal data necessary:

Content data – genre, series, season, episode, asset I.D.
Distributor data – terms, avails, distributor I.D., distributor type
Revenue data – subscribers, transactions, units sold, forecast
Advertising data – impressions, CPM, fill rate, minutes streamed

Measuring content performance helps quantify consumer engagement. Each of the essential analyzes offer important metrics and insights to assess performance across business operations.

Content performance provides a foundation to assess spending on content. It allows objectivity when looking at program performance.
Assessing workflow metrics, from managing content libraries and editing ad breaks to costs associated with programming FAST channel schedules, offers insight into revenue optimization and deal terms.
Predictive content analytics are important to understanding what to charge or pay across the customer lifecycle. These analyzes assess the consumer value of the content investment and provides insight into pricing strategies.
Content ROI assesses content value across different business models ‒ subscription, ad-supported, and even transactional. It allows media organizations to understand and optimize the impact of business decisions on financial metrics.

Analytics are essential to evaluate content performance and optimize operations across revenue models ‒ ad-supported and subscription businesses. Investing in automating, standardizing, and normalizing data structures in an organization are important next steps to streamline the analytic processes.

Vox Media on effective multiplatform podcast extensions

January 9, 2023 Esther Kezia Thorpe – Independent Media Reporter

Established in 2017, the Vox Media Podcast Network has enabled the publisher to bring together the podcasting efforts of its brands under one umbrella. Its 150+ shows span technology, news, pop culture, emerging trends, business and sports, with centralized teams to streamline production, monetization, workflows, and more.

Vox Media recently promoted two of its top podcast executives, Ray Chao and Nishat Kurwa. Chao is now SVP and GM of Audio and Digital Video, and oversees Vox Media’s digital video business as well as talent deals and distribution partnerships. Kurwa is SVP and Executive Producer of Audio, leading programming, production operations, content strategy and new show development across the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Having led a number of successful expansions of Vox Media’s podcasts into other platforms, Chao and Kurwa have a great deal of expertise in what does and doesn’t work for publishers looking to take shows to the next level. They spoke to DCN about their priorities for Vox Media’s Podcast Network this year, and what to consider when building out a podcast brand into live events, video, licensing and more.

Here are three factors that have made Vox Media’s podcast extensions so successful, and what other publishers can learn from them.

An audience-first approach

Vox Media’s podcasts have a wide range of extensions designed to engage audiences beyond just listening. Some, like tech and business podcast Pivot, have partnered to produce videos of the show, as well as launching their own tech conference. Others, like narrative series Land of the Giants, have been adapted into TV series. “When we’re thinking about extensions, everything is on the table for all of our shows,” said Kurwa.

When it comes to deciding where and how to expand, audience signals are crucial. “We get a lot of feedback from our audiences, which is really meaningful and helpful,” Kurwa explained. If they get a lot of the audience saying they’d love to see hosts on video or suggesting other ways of interacting, the feedback is all taken into consideration. “It’s a strong indicator for hosts as well when they think about how they want to spend their time,” she noted.

The audience is also the first measure the team turns to when evaluating the success of an extension. “We always ask ourselves, does this expansion resonate with audiences?” Chao said. “Is this something that our listeners, our viewers and our audiences are excited about? Are they listening and watching and engaging with the content?”

Getting this kind of feedback can be challenging with podcast listeners. It’s important to encourage communication early on – and respond – via channels like email and social media. This in turn will help when assessing which extensions will work well for audiences and the response to them.

Experimenting with video for audio

Video podcasts have become a hot topic, following studies that have shown YouTube is actually a top destination for podcasts. It’s still a fairly new area for Vox Media, who are approaching the use of video on a show-by-show basis.

Pivot is one of the publisher’s early forays into video podcasts. Their partnership with Salesforce+, an on-demand streaming service for business professionals, gives the platform four exclusive clips each week from Pivot. The partnership has been running for just over a year, and has taught the team a great deal about video production.

“You might think it’s as simple as sticking a camera in the recording room, taking that video and posting it, but it really does take a lot to get polished video, even for a conversation show like Pivot,” Chao explained. “We’ve learned a ton just in terms of video production and workflow.”

Videoing the shows has also given the team the opportunity to experiment with posting short clips on social. “It’s been so exciting for us to see how much listener engagement we have when we post short highlight clips of Scott [Galloway] or Kara [Swisher] reacting to something a guest has said on a show,” said Chao. “It’s been really beneficial for us not just for the audience feedback, but because it helps us build and foster the community in a space like a social media platform. Those videos also spread the word about Pivot for people who might not have listened yet.”

Although it’s difficult to attribute growth specifically to clips on social, Chao said that Pivot has seen a lot of healthy audience growth recently, which they believe engagement on the video clips on social media has contributed to.

The Verge has also been experimenting with video clips across its two podcasts, Decoder and The Vergecast. The team behind the shows have been taking short video clips from the podcasts and posting them to TikTok and YouTube with the primary aim of finding new listeners.

“We are very much in a test-and-learn phase with video,” he acknowledged, when asked if any other shows would be trying it out. “We’re approaching it on a show by show basis.”

The power of the Podcast Network

The Vox Media Podcast Network, where all of the podcasts are produced and supported under one umbrella rather than as individual brands, also lends strength to multiplatform extensions. “By having the network, we can pursue bigger, more exciting and more holistic growth opportunities than if it was one brand or one show on their own,” explained Chao. “We’re very connected to other parts of the business and editorial stakeholders that are working on projects and initiatives outside of the audio space.”

One example Chao illustrated this with is podcast subscriptions. Podcast Network division CAFE, which has a weekly interview podcast with former Manhattan U.S. attorney Preet Bharara as its flagship show, has a subscription product rooted in podcasting.

“We learned a ton just by operating that podcast subscription product, growing it, and working with that team,” he said. “We’re now not only applying those learnings on the podcast subscription front to other podcasts that we’d like to launch subscriptions for in the future, but we’re leveraging a lot of the internal infrastructure that we’ve built for subscriptions outside of the podcast base.”

Whether it’s New York Magazine’s established subscriptions business, Vox’s contributions model, or paid newsletter experiments at The Verge, consumer revenue opportunities can work across both audio and non-audio. “On the business side, the product side, the engineering side and the marketing side, we’re able to really share learnings and best practices across the network to find new opportunities for growth,” Chao added.

Focus on the podcast first

Despite the success of the publisher’s various podcast extensions, Kurwa and Chao were adamant that when developing new shows, the quality of the podcast always comes first.

“We don’t approach our podcast conceptualization or production thinking about television adaptation,” Kurwa emphasized, when discussing the recent TV adaptation of their podcast Land of the Giants. “We’re focused on the podcast first. And that alleviates pressure.”

It’s an important lesson, especially as stories grow of podcasters selling out arenas, landing huge licensing deals, and more. If a podcast doesn’t work as a podcast first and foremost, any planned extensions are futile.

Finally, both executives urged caution with successful multiplatform extensions. What works really well for one show may not for another.

“We’re not going down a laundry list of ‘here are all of the different things that a podcast could expand into’, but we’re trying to be thoughtful about what makes sense for the audience, what makes sense for the show, what makes sense for the host and the show teams, and what they have bandwidth for,” Chao noted. “We’re really looking for those types of opportunities that check all of those boxes for us.”

For savvy publishers, the opportunities to extend podcast brands beyond audio are limitless. But true success comes in expanding wisely.